1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of forming a dielectric film and a plasma display panel (PDP) using the dielectric film, and more particularly, to a method of forming a dielectric film having excellent characteristics, and to a PDP using the dielectric film.
2. Description of the Related Art
PDPs display images using a gas discharge and have excellent characteristics, such as display capacity, brightness, contrast, afterimages, and an angular field. Accordingly, PDPs are in great demand as display devices to replace cathode-ray tubes. When a Direct Current (DC) or Alternating Current (AC) voltage is applied across electrodes in a PDP, a discharge occurs in a gas between the electrodes, creating ultraviolet rays which excite phosphor films, thereby creating an image.
PDPs can be categorized into DC PDPs and AC PDPs depending on a discharge mechanism. For DC PDPs, individual electrodes are directly exposed to gas that is hermetically sealed in discharge cells so that a voltage applied to the electrodes is directly applied to a discharge gas. For AC PDPs, individual electrodes are separated from a discharge gas by a dielectric film so that charged particles generated during discharge are not absorbed by the electrodes and form wall charges, and so that a gas discharge is induced using the wall charges.
In a PDP, a dielectric film is formed to cover electrodes arranged on a substrate. The dielectric film should have an excellent insulation characteristic and be freed from voids or pinholes after it is sintered.
To form a desired dielectric film, a paste should be formed of an insulating powder having a good droplet size distribution and other excellent characteristics, and an insulating paste mixed with a solvent and a binder should exhibit an appropriate viscosity and leveling characteristic.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-302648 discloses a paste for making an insulating film, which uses a solvent having a contact angle of 5° or less with respect to a substrate in order to improve the wettability of the insulating paste.
Although the above-described paste for making the insulating film facilitates printing, dispersion of the paste is not considered.
Since the paste having a high dispersion can be coated on a substrate to a uniform thickness, the paste can form a dielectric film, which is effectively sintered and appropriate for a large-area PDP.